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with the filthy mud which is thrust into mouth and nostrils, the screams of the murdered being overwhelmed in the infernal din which is raised in mockery of grief, and such like tales that make one's blood run cold. And we are the legislators, the law executors, and the teachers of this people! If the vices attributed to the Hindoo by the English exist to their full extent as described-if youth is made inexpressibly corrupt, and age is a maximized villany-if infanticide and parricide are practices and customs of the people-how is it that the race itself maintains its vitality that it increases whilst the Mussulman declines that its numbers show no mark of diminution and no sign of physical deterioration?

February 1st.-This morning to Mr. Cecil Beadon, who gave me an order for a post dâk (or what in Russia would be called a padarodjnie), which I had to communicate to the postmaster, and which will entitle me to one of the dâks or relays of horses for Wednesday next. The Government has hired all the vehicles and horses of the private companies, and every sort of quadruped and carriage on the main trunk road, for the public service. Mr. Beadon, who is a man of great importance, as Secretary of Government in Lord Canning's absence-and otherwise-is said to be a man of ability, though his name is not much known out of India. I found him courteous. He is far above the middle height; has a good head; clear, intelligent eye; straight, vigorous figure; and, altogether, is as unlike the popular notion of an old Indian as man can well be. If you met him in England, you would say he lived a good deal by the cover side, and that his hunters cost him a great deal

of money. What wonderful piles of papers Indian officials get about them! I have been in all the great public offices at home, and have seen the interior of minister's workshops, but never did I behold out of Calcutta such heaps of despatch boxes, such mounds of record boxes, such vast fabrics of pigeon-holes, such abandon of red tape!

Thence to lunch with my old acquaintaince, MajorGeneral Dupuis, where I met Colonel Adye, a name well known in the Crimean camp, and in the corps to which he belongs, as that of a most excellent soldier and thorough good fellow. In the course of conversation I heard enough to make me believe that the officers of the Royal Artillery in India-and certainly those in the higher ranks-thought they had not been quite well treated by the Commander-in-Chief. General Dupuis, for instance, was sent out by the Commander-inChief to command the Royal Artillery in India. When he saw Sir Colin, he was told to remain some time at Calcutta to superintend the disembarkation and arrangements connected with the force at his command, Colonel Adye, as his brigade-major, of course being with him. As soon as a considerable force of artillery had landed, and gone up to Sir Colin, then preparing for his relief of the Residency garrison, the general went up to Cawnpore, and was by no means well received by the Commander-in-Chief. Whereupon Dupuis sent in his resignation, but he withdrew it on the understanding that he was to be permitted to accompany the field force. However, it would seem as if he did something which displeased the Commander-in-Chief, for in a day or two Sir Colin sent him orders to go to Calcutta, as the Governor-General

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had informed him the head-quarters of artillery was to be at Dum-Dum, or Barrackpore. Ere he could get down, however, the Gwalior Force attacked Windham, and both Dupuis and Adye rendered services which were warmly acknowledged by that officer on the day when our troops were obliged to retreat into the tête-de-pont, and lost their camp. In their opinion Windham was placed in the most difficult circumstances, and did the best he could-an opinion which is fortified by Sir Colin's last despatch in reference to the action. The whole truth of the affair cannot be made public yet; and, indeed, it would at any time come with bad grace from the lips of any officers of rank, who would find themselves in telling it obliged to make painful accusations.

Dined at the Advocate-General's (Mr. Ritchie), where there was a small and agreeable party, and went afterwards to a ball given in Fort William by Colonel Mundy and the officers of Her Majesty's 19th, at which I met many old friends and acquaintances. The arrangements were admirable. The rooms-curious, quaint, old barrack chambers were well lighted, decorated with flags, flowers, and fire-arms; bowers and pleasant arcades were improvised in the open. Dancing vigorous, music good. The supper-rooms gave one an exalted notion of the resources of Calcutta, and one could not help asking himself, "Has there been a mutiny at all? Is this a delusion? Do the enemy still hold Oude, Rohilcund, Jhansi, Calpee, and vast tracts of Central India ?"

VOL. I.

K

CHAPTER IX.

Preparing for a start.-The king of Oude's menagerie.—Simon and Sally Bridget.-My fellow-traveller, Dr. Mouat.—The Rajah of Pachete.—Raneegunj.-A mess-dinner.-Camp of Government elephants.-Locomotion by gharry.—A shattered wheel and its consequences.-Fording a river.-Numerous tanks, birds and squirrels.-Bungalows.-Theory and practice. -"Serry Shrab."-Approach to Benares.-The Holy Ganges.

February 2nd.-Busy making preparations for my start. The postmaster cannot give me a dâk before the 4th. In India the disturbance caused by the movement of great bodies is widely felt. For instance, the Governor-General, in moving to Allahabad the other day, absorbed all the bullock-waggons on the road for five days. When Lord Dalhousie crossed the Ganges, he had one hundred elephants in his train. Sir Colin Campbell's baggage, &c., extended for eighteen miles, when he came down from Lucknow. The preparations to be made for going a journey up country in India are very troublesome and expensive, and at first a European thinks they are supererogatory, whilst his favoured and cherished campaigning utensils, such as a well-fitted canteen, are pronounced to be useless. It was just at this crisis that my man Simon deserted me. He was invisible all day-a great increment of trouble to my good friend D.

Dined with Colonel Champneys, who certainly deserves his reputation as a Calcutta Lucullus, and who is more-a kindly, genial host. He has a dreadful róle to fill, for as Auditor-General he has to clip and

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cut at pay and allowances-the latter of which, in India, are subjects of incessant contentions. At dinner met Colonel Lugard, Captain Mallison, a very intelligent officer, who seems to have paid great attention to Indian politics; another officer, whose name I forget; Captain D, and one of the principal Calcutta merchants.

It is strange enough that the nation which is so chary of any appearance of meanness or unfair dealing in its acts, should be so indifferent to the most calumnious accusations against those to whom it delegates power in remote parts of the world. As far as I know, the people cared very little about the monster indictment against Warren Hastings. All the wondrous eloquence of his accusers failed to create any popular excitement against the man for acts done thousands of miles away. But suppose they had been committed, or said to be perpetrated, in Ireland, in Scotland, or the Channel Islands? So to-night I hear that the menagerie of the King of Oude, as much his private property as his watch or turban, were sold under discreditable circumstances, and his jewels seized and impounded, though we had no more claim on them than on the Crown diamonds of Russia. Do the English people care for those things? Do they know them? The hundred millions of Hindostan know them well, and care about them too.

February 3rd.-An awful night with mosquitoes. Got up in the morning with my eyes bunged up, which did not account, however, for my not seeing Simon, for he had not been in all day or all night, and the mosquitoes had taken advantage of his absence to carry the curtains by storm. As I was in my bath